bret?: casey stegall live in new orleans tonight. we'll keep the track of the storm every minute. thank you, casey. up next, the party is here in tampa. where are the romneys and what are they doing? . you could also cut corners by making it without 100% real cheddar cheese. but then...it wouldn't be stouffer's mac & cheese. just one of over 70 satisfying recipes for one from stouffer's. >> bret: welcome back to republican convention. balloons are poised, ready for thursday night. the central figure in tampa this week is presumptive nominee mitt romney. he leads president obama by one point in the latest gallup poll. he is tied in a poll in ohio and virtual tie in florida. his big moment will be thursday night. carl cameron is in boston tonight to tell us what romney and the convention are doing in the meantime. >> reporter: day one of the 012 republican national con vention went according to contingency plans. chairman opened proceeding and started obama debt clock to watch it rise in the

you. >> good to see you, bret. >> bret: you, too.the main stage you can see the crews are at work. working on two podiums. one in the back is where the speakers have been speaking in the past two nights. the one further forward is where mitt romney will deliver his speech tonight. biggest speech of his life. officials are saying that it's a little further forward. to get a sense of intimacy with the delegates. after the speech, governor romney and mrs. romney and congressman ryan and mrs. ryan are expected to come down and work the crowd. which will be a big moment. that is the end of the convention really. when the balloons fall down. the moment that the republican party has been waiting for. we will be covering this from the america's election headquarters. given last night and the interruption for applause for paul ryan and condoleezza rice and governor martinez you can be sure that this place will be very loud. we'll have it covered. every inch of it. "special report" continues after the break. you see us, at the start of the day

bret?: casey stegall live in new orleans tonight. we'll keep the track of the storm every minute. thank you, casey. up next, the party is here in tampa. tampa. where are the romneys and what [ pilot ] now when you build an aircraft, you want to make sure it goes up and stays up. [ chirp ] with android apps, you get better quality control. so our test flights are less stressful. i've got a lot of paperwork, and time is everything here. that's why i upgraded to the new sprint direct connect. [ chirp ] and the fastest push-to-talk nationwide. [ male announcer ] upgrade to the new "done." [ chirp ] with access to the fastest push to talk, three times the coverage, and android productivity apps. now when you buy one motorola admiral rugged smartphone, for ninety nine ninety nine, you'll get one free. visit a sprint store, or call eight five five, eight seven eight, four biz. >> aouncer: meet tom, a proud dad whose online friends all "like" the photos he's posting. oscar likes tom's photos, but h

. >> bret: democrats are accusing you to redefine rape. you cosponsored legislation to distinguish between statutory and forcible rape. why? >> well, look, all these bills were bills to stop taxpayer financing of abortion. most americans agree with us. including pro-choice americans we shouldn't use hard-working american dollars to finance abortion. rape is rape period. this is language, stock languageed used for differents bills, bills i didn't author. the language was removed to be clear. i agree to remove it so we're clear. rape is rape. period. end of story. >> bret: you have been critical of president obama for what you call lack of leadership on iran. you said he should have supported the green move in the tehran and been forceful early on. look at the situation right now, what would romney-ryan administration do differently with iran? >> for the last three years the obama administration has tried to water down the sanctions that we applied on iran. because we have had huge bipartisan votes in congress do we have the sanctions we hav

bret? >> bret: james, thank you.atormoderators for presidel and vice presidential debates have been revealed. jim laer of cbs first up october 3 in denver. the final two presidential debates october 16 on long island, new york. and candy crowley of cnn october 22. bob schaefer of cbs. martha radich will host the viceth event october -- vice presidential event october 11 in danville, kentucky. >>> is paul ryan plus or minus for the g.o.p. ticket? the fox all-stars discuss after the break. people with a machine. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if youbank doesn't let you talk to a real perso24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. [ male announcer ] it started long ago. the joy of giving something everything you've got. it takes passion. and it's not letting up anytime soon. at unitedhealthcare insurance company, we understand that commitment. and always have. so does aarp, an organization serving the needs of americans 50 and over for generatio

bret? >> bret: thank you, jennifer.ifornia technology company reached a tentative deal to buy facilities of bankrupt solar energy firm solyndra for just over $90 million. facility was built with $52 #528 in stimulus money. under the term of the obama administration loan guarantee some investors will get their money back before taxpayers. >>> illinois-based energy company is getting special treat fire department the white house. "new york times" detailed ways in which it says exelon corporation benefited from the support of president obama dating back to his days as state senator in illinois. white house officials insist the relationship reflects the company's shared vision with the administration opt not favoritism. something is not on the up and up with the president's twitter feed. we'll explain. and charlie rangel on vice president joe biden's chains comment. the grapevine is next. is our most popular promotion at d lobster. there's so many choices. the guests come in and they're like yeah i want to try this shrimp a

this is "special report." ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. insult, implications are growing ever more incendiary in the presidential race. with a little more than 13 weeks to go. romney launched a new barrage against the president, this time going after the changes to program near and dear to democratic hearts. chief political correspondent carl cameron is in chicago tonight. >> bob: in barack obama's backyard, romney blasted the president for little noticed administrative move romney says could cut welfare of the clinton era work requirements. >> that is wrong. if i'm president i'll put work back in welfare. [ applause ] >> reporter: romney calls it extreme big government liberalism. g.o.p. pointed to obama's 13-year-old stated opposition to one of clinton rare biggest bipartisan achievement. >> i was not a huge supporter of the federal plan in 1996. >> reporter: he is attacking in key states, with moderates backing work father programs. >> under obama's plan you wouldn't have to work or train for a job. they send you a welfare check. >> the

bret? >> bret: thank you. changing terms with fannie mae and freddie mac, they're dealing with concerns that the mortgage companies could exhaust the federal support they were guaranteed when the government took them over in 2008. the firms will now be required to turn over all profits they earn every quarter. >>> index of economic indicators was up .4 of a percentage point in july, to put it back where it was in may. the highest reading in four years. stocks like that today, the dow gained 25. s&p 500 finished ahead 3. nasdaq was up 14. >>> vice president joe biden is not the only democrat who had a tough week. biden's would-be republican successor has to come clean about the stimulus. we'll explain. grapevine is next. ♪ why not take a day to explore your own backyard? with two times the points on travel, you may find yourself asking why not, a lot. chase sapphire preferred. there's more to enjoy. [ male announcer ] it started long ago. the joy of giving something everything you've got. it takes passion. and

bret? traveling with governor romney in new mexico. thank you. governor romney is staying positive about tampa. as you heard mike say. republicans, however, are working on contingency plan just in case. here is the host government, florida rick scott. >> they have a plan in case there is a hurricane. if there is, they will work their plan. but right now, we're hoping that it continues to go west. dissipate. >> bret: will isaac break apart or jog further west? meteorologist rick reichmuth is tracking the storm from the new york fox weather center. good evening. >> good evening, bret. the governor is part of that west is what we are seeing. dissipating not likely the case. the storm really all day long has had a hard time getting going. you can see it here across the eastern caribbean. not well-organized. the winds are still sustained around 40 miles per hour. because it has not gotten its act together and it's less organized it's harder to get an accurate read on where the center of it is. i

this is "special report." ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. countdown clock to the election continues to roll backward one day at a time. while the federal deficit continues to surge out of control. on pace to hit $1.1 trillion this fiscal year. that poses a major survival issue for a president. coming up for re-election in less than 11 weeks. chief white house correspondent ed henry reports. >> it's good to be back in nevada. >> four more years! >> reporter: as president obama made his case in another key battleground -- >> the fact is that everything i've done has been focused on how we rebuild that strong middle class. >> back in washington, much harsher verdict of the fiscal mess. congressional budget office protecting a president who vowed to cut the deficit in half will see it exceed $1 trillion for the fourth straight year. >> we don't know how long it can go on for. if leaders fail to stop massive tax increases and automatic spending cuts at the end of the year, there will be short-term deficit relief but it could spark another recessi

bret? >> bret: william, thank you.ador granted political asylum to wikileaks founder julian assange. he has been holed up in equador london embassy for two months. angelides jumped bail after being accused of sexual assault against two women in sweden. he insists he is innocent. british authorities are under legal obligation to arrest assange if he steps foot outside the embassy. south africa opened fire on striking miners today near johannesburg. 3,000 miners walked off the job last week and there has been violence since then. officials say today's incident began when miners rushed a police line. the united states will not renew the observer mission in war-torn syria. the-up said the people will leave next week. the survivors from wednesday's assault near a town in -- a town near aleppo are preparing to bury dozens of friends and family members. correspondent steve harrigan was there during the attack. >> one day after air strikes by a syrian government war plane, the people are picking through the wreckage of their h

bret? >> bret: ed henry live on the north lawn. thank you. as carl mentioned we are days away arguably from the biggest decision mitt romney will make as the republican candidate. who he will choose for running mate. head of that decision, we thought we'd bring back the series running with romney and reintroduce you to people we believe are romney's top four choices on his short, short list. with the caveat that only governor romney knows for sure and he could choose someone outside of the four. we begin with one of the republican party young guns whose names seems to be on everyone's lips right now. >> i think the most likely pick is paul ryan. >> paul ryan makes sense. >> romney really likes ryan. there is a good chance he is the pick. >> in recent days, wisconsin congressman and house budget committee chairman paul ryan's stock has been rising. >> morning. how are you doing? >> a long way from the conventional wisdom early on that ryan and his budget might be too dangerous for governor romney to ever embrace. >> the next president of unite

bret?bret: all right, carl. we're waiting. thank you. we are expecting any day now a choice from governor romney on the running mate. this week, we are taking another look at four of the top contenders in the running with romney series. one of those carl mentioned is letting others do the talking for him. florida senator marco rubio seems to be pretty popular on the stump. now being on romney's short list -- >> rubio for vice president. [ cheering ] >> bret: -- adds a new element of support. rubio like all the short listers adamantly refuses to come close to addressing the v.p. talk. >> i don't discuss it in any way. >> you want to talk about indirectly. >> no, i don't. >> here is one thing everyone should know. governor romney will make a great choice. >> in recent weeks he stepped up the rhetoric against president obama. sounding like the attack dog many vice presidential nominees become. >> he believes if you are success to feel build a business, it's not because you were successful but

bret? >> bret: eric, thank you.ked the beginning of president obama's effort to allow younger illegal immigrants to legally stay in this country. and critics decry as backdoor amnesty. chief intelligence correspondent herron show cathee herridge has more. >> reporter: a similar scene in los angeles where lines were long and questions around having the right paperwork to qualify under the controversial program. >> we want to get our passport because obama might be asking for them. we don't know what the requirements are, but we're trying to get ahead of time and trying to have all of our documents ready. >> in washington, d.c., applicants appeared at an event sponsored by the national immigration law center, a group that supports the president deferred action plan. >> realization of the beginning of young people like myself being able to find ways to legalize the status. find ways to do it the right way. >> the application cost $465. in addition to high school diploma, vocational training or military service, the app

bret? >> bret: carl, quickly, governor walker, that was one of the loudest sustained applause you've heard in a long time. >> absolutely! no question about it. he is a rock star here. he has put wisconsin on the map. he helped paul ryan get introduced. bret? >> all right, carl. listen in to the music for one second. ♪ ♪ >> bret: a little bit of the flavor. everybody dancing and celebrating the official nomination comes thursday. the reason it was delayed is the weather. hurricane isaac now, just how slowly is hurricane isaac moving toward the louisiana coast? let's put hit the way. many of you could run faster. we have fox team coverage tonight. senior correspondent rick leventhal is in alabama. correspondent casey stegall in new orleans. but we begin with meteorologist janice dean telling us where the storm is headed. jump up and shout. >> i'm glad you are having a good time. of course, all eyes are on the gulf coast because we have a really serious situation. this form is getting stronger

bret? >> bret: ed henry live on the north lawn. thank you. more obama voters than mccain voters are switching sides this year. gallup says 86% of those who voted for then senator obama if 2008 plan to vote for the re-election as president this november. 92% of mccain voters are said to cast a ballot for mitt romney. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says showing the economy in recovery does not fully capture the tough times many of you are going through. on wall street today, the dow was up 21. the s&p 500 climbed three. nasdaq up 22. we hear it constantly. the rich are getting richer. you may be surprised at what the numbers show later. up next, earth invades mars again. throughout the show, we will bring you flavor here from wood county. starting with farmer paul haringschoel. >> started with my father and it's been 32 >> what is the biggest concern for farmers in wood county? >> the drought is a concern. we have had sever good years. we have the risk management tools in place. have we done daniel to our end users? and end buyers we i'l

this is "special report." ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier.come back to the tampa bay times forum. night two of speeches after a delayed start. the headliner tonight, vice presidential candidate paul ryan. most of the buzz in the hall today was about mitt romney and her get to know mitt speech last night. shannon bream talks with mrs. romney a bit later. first, chief political correspondent carl cameron on mitt romney's quick road trip to court special voters. >> reporter: the morning after his wife and governor cristie addressed the convention, romney left to a speech in indianapolis to stop the obama administration defense cuts he says that would hurt the anemic obama economy. >> where the president failed to lead, we will protect our national defense from cuts that jeopardize critical missions. where he let down veterans we'll welcome them home to booming economy and johns they need. >> reporter: romney expressed relief it appears isaac will not cause the devastation that katrina did seven years ago today. despite convention he welcomes any

bret? >> bret: jim, thank you.e today we learned a federal appeals court is blocking arizona from enforcing the new been a on abortions. starting at 20 weeks in the pregnancy. two days ago a trial judge said the been a could take effect tomorrow as scheduled. the measure is similar to the late term abortion been a for the district of columbia that was defeated yesterday. in the house. >>> when allegation surface your federal tax money are being wasted and people are flaunting it there is usual lay strong reaction. doug mckelway shows us the latest videotape embarrassment for the beleaguered general services administration. >> give a round of applause for the group of people here who created a harmonic existence inside your organization. >> reporter: congressional investigators today ridiculed the november 2010 gsa conference and the costs. $200,000 for the one-day event. $34,000 for the venue. $220 for the drumsticks and $10,000 for the team building facilitators. >> once you have harmony, the ripple-out effect to

bret? >> you'll sleep well tonight, i'm sure. thank you. as carl mentioned, the president's surrogates jumped right on the ryan pick and quickly telegraphed they will go after the ticket as full of dangerous and antiquated ideas. but ed henry reports the men actually on the democratic ballot are playing nice, so far. >> as he headed to chicago to raise money, president obama had nothing to say about the big news. >> what do you think about the ryan pick? >> letting his campaign do the talking, with tweets and text messages charging the republican pick is radical. immediately rolling out a tough new ad that calls paul ryan the mastermind of an extreme budget. >> top obama advisors can hardly contain their glee. the election is now what they've wanted. a choice about the next four years instead of a referendum on the last four. though ryan quickly made clear what unemployment high and the debt soaring, he'll hammer the president on the future and the past. >> he didn't do things that were cen

♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. this is fox news alert.aking reports say syrian forces have killed at least 50 people during clashes with rebels in the central city of hamas. this is just within the past few hours. the brutal syrian civil war is growing deadlier by the day. by the hour. now president obama has committed american resources to the fight. syrian rebels are for the first time turning heavy weapons, captured from government troops against them the nation's largest city. the u.n. envoy to syria, abruptly quit today. the president has given the u.s. intelligence community orders to get involved. national security correspondent jennifer griffin is watching all of this from the pentagon. as the fighting escalates and syria's largest city olipo, for the first time, assad's fighter jets are seen firing on the civilian areas. the situation became too much for-up peace envoy kofi annan who resigned today. >> the clear lack of unity in the security council, changed the citizens for the effective exercise of my role. >> reporter: the con

bret? >> bret: thank you. too much rain to not enough.approved a relief habit. in part by the growing drought. the latest information indicates two-third of the lower 48 states are feeling the draft. half of the counties have been designated disaster area. faa says two planes that flew too close to each other were not on a collision course. to u.s. airways commuter jets were taking off, one trying to land. faa is blaming bad weather for a miscommunication between air traffic controllers. the u.s. takes steps to become further involved in the syrian civil war. we will talk about whether it's a good idea and what is next there. fox all-stars join me after the break. orgdoes your cauliflowernic have a big carbon footprint? not at all. that's great. melons!!! oh yeah!! well that was uncalled for. uhh... mr. gallagher. incoming!!! hahaha! it's wasteful. you know jimmy. folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy, ronny? happier than gallagher at a farmers' market. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could

note ♪ ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm brit hum bret baier.me observation escollusive interview with ryan later. but first, romney slammed obama for what he called the administration war on coal. the president is am paining in iowa. center of wind energy production in the u.s. he favors extending tax break for the industry. romney opposes that. suicide attacks in afghanistan killed at least 38 people today in what is the deadliest day of the year there for civilians. officials say 14 bombers struck in a province in the south. motorcycle bomb targeted a crowded bazaar. u.s. officials tell fox news nearly 50 iranian men captured in syria are not on a religious pilgrimage as they claim but are in fact, active duty members of the iranian revolutionary guard. defense secretary leon panetta talked about it today, saying it's part of a largeer plan. >> iran is playing a larger role in syria, in many ways. not only in terms of the irgc, but in terms of assistance, training. there is now indication they are trying to develop, or trying to train a milit

i'm shannon bream in for bret baier.esident obama gets his way, the special voting rights of some of america's finist will be eliminated. the campaign is suing to keep members of the military from having extra time to cast their ballots in one key battleground state. chief white house correspondent ed henry tells us why. >> new meaning to the term "battleground." president obama's campaign and members of the military on a collision course orve voting rights in the critical state of ohio. his campaign and the democratic national committee filed a lawsuit to block a new state law allowing men and women in uniform to vote up until the monday right before an election. while the cutoff on early voting for the rest of the public is three days earlier. the national guard association and other military groups fired back as offensive for democrats to suggest it's arbitrary for service members to get special consideration. >> i'm just outraged by this. i can't believe that, you know, the obama campaign, the state democratic party

and bret stevens, columnist for affairs in the "wall street journal." tell me about what -- i guess you'll agree with the column of don freedman from a couple of days ago when he says "much of what is wrong with the u.s./israeli relationship can be found in this romney tripe. in recent years they've decided to make israel a wedge issue to garner more jewish and evangelical votes and money, the gop has decided to out pro-israel, the democrats, by being even more unquestioning of israel." he end by seeing, "stop using this as a photo op for fundraisers. stop making things worse by telling israelis things they want to hear to grovel for jewish votes and money by blatantly avoiding the other side." i take it you agree? >> yeah, i don't think the romney trip was mostly about american jewish votes. a small percentage of american j jews making it a voting issue. of 4%, most probably already support romney. i think it was really as thom ad friedman mentioned, it was donor maintenance. it was basically romney has a small number of very rich american jewish donor

happy birthday, bret. >> hey, bret, while you're not here and you are out celebrating your birthday, office and i have got everything under very tight control. >> happy birth day, bret, i am told this is your 42nd birthday which is kind of a coincidence because this tie 42 years old. >> happy birthday to my tv husband. >> on behalf of power play and the entire internet, happy birthday, mr. baier. >> now that we know it's your birthday, we can understand why you have been out of the studio this week, you know, reporting in las vegas. >> don't forget, share the cake with us. >> doug, i don't think you are going to ever look that perfect. >> happy birthday, bret. >> have a birthday that is fair, balanced, and unafraid. >> happy birthday from the "special report." >> shannon: by the way, we could not fit in all the birthday wishes so go online to the daily bret.com for the complete version and trust us, it is even funnier. don't forget bret baier post birthday will be in wood county, ohio on monday talking to voters in that very important swing state. that's it for "special report" tonig

bret? >> carl cameron live in new orleans tonight. thank you. >>> let's get some thoughts from senior political analyst brit hume. good evening. >> good evening. >> made the travel from tampa to here. what about that speech? a lot of talk has been about the style and how it was delivered, but for the folks like carl who cover mitt romney every day, many of them say it really was the best speech he's delivered. >> i thought the speech was not poetic but in all lik likelihood effective. you look at mitt romney up there on the stage. can you picture him as president? most people look at him and say yes, they can picture him as president. you hear the details of the work he did at bain capital, hear about it, other speaker speakers reinforced it. it was important for him to do and probably helped him. when you hear about his personal life and you you get a sense of his family, that's important, and you know, i sense that peek look at him and if they're in the mood to make a change, and that's t

>> bret: not your time. we won't take your time. >> bill: they want to get ratings at 8:00. [ laughter ] you and kelly -- you are the duo, right? >> bret: we are. >> bill: for both convention recommendation right? >> we are for the republic and democratic convention. >> bill: these are basically, and fox business network ray and i'm not saying this with any -- yes i am. i'm cynical about it. these are basically propaganda displays, right? >> you have been to a ton of these. >> bill: they have and they're forcing me to go there again. >> there are story lines there that develop, that paint the picture of how the general election is going to go. how they are going to roll out governor romney and his vice presidential nominee. >> bill: that's going to be before? don't you think he is going to mention before. >> yeah, but i think how t is all packaged together is the convention. >> so what kind of point of view are you going to bring? see, they wouldn't let me do -- they wouldn't ever let me anchor the coverage

captioned by closed captioning services, inc >> bret: i'm bret baier coming to you live from the woodof our commitment to take you to the swing counties ahead of the november electio election. there are 12 battleground states. we identified 30 key counties inside the state. those counties are marked in yellow. the race is close. president obama has 3.5 points on mitt romney in the real clear politics average of polls. in ohio, there are four key counties. hamilton in southwest and lake in the northeast. bill hemmer traveled to stark county earlier and we're in wood county tonight. the real clear politic average in ohio has the president up by five points. both sides are targeting the independents in the buckeye state. they make up a third of the voters here. independents wednesday for president obama by eight points last time. they swung hard to republicans in 2010. exit polls show senator rob portman who is believed to be under consideration for spot on the republican ticket captured 66% of the independent vote in the state. more on presidential politics in a bit. our top story is tr

you remember those days, bret.: she didn't liked henry when shy was the white house press secretary. he gave her jazz the same as he's giving it to president obama and jay carney. >> that is a good thing. megyn: we always say we know we've done our job when we get complaints from both sides. it's an interesting discussion, one we'll be sure to continue going onto november. dana thank you. bret, see you tonight. >> you got it, this weekend too down in tampa. megyn: bret and i have a lot of work to do. >> we'll see you there too. "the five" is going to be there. megyn: maybe we'll swing by, bret and make it the seven. you don't want us. thank you, buddy. br erbs t has a great show coming up tonight at 6:00pm. one thing he never has is "kelly's court." today's is a real great one. a group of gamblers win is 1.5 million bucks at a casino. now the casino is suing them demanding the money back even though it admits that they didn't cheat. the casino blames its card dealer. and we will explain next in "kelly's court." ♪ l